An easy to make salad with few ingredients that delivers a crunchy texture with sweet and salty flavors. It goes well with meat, fish, and pasta dishes.

The salad ingredients below are for a two-person salad.  Increase the salad ingredents for a larger salad with more servings.

Salad Ingredients

2 small  bunches romaine lettuce

1 pear

1/3 C Manchego cheese shaved

Dressing Ingredients

1/2 C olive oil

1/4 C lime juice

4 t maple syrup(real)

1/2 C Fromage Blanc or sour cream

1/2 t cumin

1/4 t red pepper flakes

Directions

Wash and dry 6 whole romaine leaves.  Line salad bowl with 6 romaine leaves.  You may need more romaine leaves for a larger bowl.

Chop remaining lettuce and place in bowl.

Make a light dressing such as a the dressing above or use a vinaigrette.

Toss lettuce with dressing.

Add Manchego and pears. Drizzle light amount of dressing over the top and serve.

How to Serve

We served this salad as part of an easy-to-fix meal with grilled steak, roasted fingerlings, lemon sorbet and fresh blueberries. Big flavors, little cleanup.

Notes

Use firm pears to add more texture.  The Manchego should be an aged manchego that easily slices.

The dressing was made with Fromage Blanc which is a fresh cheese.  Sour cream may be substituted, but will increase acidity.  Balance acidity with more or less maple syrup.